Can an omniscient deity create a world of objective chance?
In short: Philosopher Alex Rosenberg explores a fundamental tension between Darwinian evolution and theistic belief. If natural selection relies on objective chance, it poses a significant conceptual hurdle for those trying to reconcile a divine plan with the randomness of biology.
Rosenberg, a naturalist and professor at Duke University, argues that the mechanisms of natural selection are inherently dependent on objective chance. This creates a logical conflict for theistic evolution: if a deity is omniscient and intentional, the existence of genuine randomness in the evolutionary process challenges the idea of a guided creation.
The discussion highlights the difficulty of maintaining a worldview where a world is simultaneously governed by a divine purpose and the unpredictable, objective probabilities that drive biological complexity.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Why Objective Chance Challenges Theistic Evolution | Alex Rosenberg
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